OCS Operator of the Year Marcia Sapp

Marcia Sapp’s love of the business has helped her to succeed, even in the face of rising coffee prices. Single-cup has driven growth.

Marcia Sapp never intended to go into the OCS business when she was studying psychology at Kansas State University 20 years ago. But in retrospect, she is grateful she agreed to come back to Claremont, Calif. and work with her parents in their OCS business.

Sapp only planned on working for her parents for a year. She divided her time between servicing existing customers and finding new customers. She placed and serviced glass bowl brewers and delivered national name brand fractional pack coffee.

In that first year, Sapp got married and never got around to returning to college for graduate studies. She became attached to the OCS business.

Expansion Into Bottled Water

After three years, Sapp had grown the business and expanded into 5-gallon bottled water.

After five years, she contracted her own private label coffee.

Her brother, meanwhile, developed a vending business, Dependable Vending. She and her brother often partner when customers need both vending and OCS. "We go in as a package," Sapp said.

As consumer coffee tastes improved with the growth of specialty coffee houses, Sapp found she was able to offer better coffee.

Single-Cup Fuels Growth

When Keurig became available to her in 2003, she began offering it to customers, and was surprised by the success of these cartridge single-cup systems. "It's been amazing," she said. "I just fell in love with it."

In recent years, as Keurig homeowner brewers have become available to consumers, Sapp has found even stronger appreciation for Keurig OCS brewers. About a third of all of her office brewers currently are Keurigs. "They (the customers) already know about it," she said. "It's all about service. We give them great service. We have the best crew we've ever had."

The company now has three OCS trucks and two trucks for delivering 5-gallon bottled water. The 12 employees include two dedicated sales people, one of which is Sapp's partner, Jey Sapp.

While coffee prices have increased to record levels recently, Sapp isn't afraid to pass the increases on to her customers. She said customers understand that prices are rising.

Her 18-year-old son, Dillon, now works in the warehouse during the summer while finishing high school and getting ready to attend Kansas State University. Her daughter, Kayla, will also be coming into the business and attending Kansas State University in three years.